Young Female Role Models in Popular Culture

by Ljiljana Nei-Cvetkovi

There is practically no distinction between popular culture and media culture these days.
What you see on television, in the newspapers, on the Internet - that is what is popular, what
shapes the minds and the lives of young people around the world. Vast majority of what pops up
on our screens comes from or is inspired by popular culture of the United States, but the media
culture of America is overwhelmingly produced by men. (O'Donnell, Jennifer Lee (2015))
Theres been a high demand for powerful, strong female characters in the recent years, yet
almost all these uplifting and inspiring women and girls are only considered truly strong when
they are imitating whats traditionally male role.
Movies, TV series and even books today - especially those intended for young adults are full of leading female characters. These role models are independent, determined and - most
common of all - capable of fighting for what they believe in. And even though these are all good
personality traits in a person, they are not even close to being the only characteristics worth
having. Yet if the current trend continues, we might end up teaching our children and the
upcoming generations that the only thing that makes a girl strong is picking up a weapon.
As the tendency to write female characters to fit these norms continues, we are getting
role models that are more and more extreme. Independency has somehow become solitude,
determination has become stubbornness and fighting has become the way of life. Take a look, for
example, at the very popular protagonist of The Hunger Games series of books by Suzanne
Collins made into movies by. While Katniss Everdeen joins the deadly games more or less
willingly, volunteering to take place of her younger sister in a touching and heartbreaking
moment at the very beginning of the series, this is one of the rare shows of humanity we see from
this character. Mostly, she comes across as cold and detached, unable to connect with people
around her. And while that surely helps her survive in the ruthless fictional world she lives in, it
hardly makes her a suitable role model to young girls. Its similar with the main character of the
Divergent series, who willingly leaves her - extremely modest, but happy - home to join a group
of citizens that are basically a military organization and train and treat their members as such.

Even though Tris has very little aside from her innate, vaguely defined uniqueness to set her
apart from the others - she mostly thrives on extreme stubbornness and willingness to jump into
danger head-first - people in the media often single her out as a strong female character.
While comic books are unrealistic and prone to exaggeration by their very nature, with
the translation of their content onto the small and big screen we reach an extreme in the portrayal
of characters young girls are supposed to look up to. And while adult females with superpowers
or highly trained spies are somewhat acceptable, there is a particularly baffling character in Mark
Millars comic book series adapted to the big screen by Marv Films, Kick-Ass. Her name is
Mindy McCready, aka Hit-Girl. This preadolescent has already been put through a combat
training by her father, who taught her to be deadly and ruthless in fight. Mindy has a very
hardened, almost nihilist personality, as she is indifferent to bloodshed and death. While this
example is extreme and not a common portrayal of young girls in popular media, Im afraid, that
is exactly where all young heroines are headed.
That the audience has bought into this lazy attempt at putting more strong female
characters into the books and media shows the fact that now even when they come across a wellwritten character, they still set apart and admire the most these violent urges. Hermione Granger,
the lead female character in the extremely popular Harry Potter series of books and movies for
children and young adults, is what we call a well-rounded character. Shes clever and hardworking, brave and righteous, yet still undeniably flawed in a way that allows young girls to not
just look at her as some unattainable ideal, but as someone they can identify themselves with.
But what are Hermione's seemingly most popular scenes, shared and blogged about on the
Internet, celebrated as her shiniest moments? Its not all the times when shes saved the day by
figuring out something no one else could, or when she played a crucial part in war; its the
moment when she slapped one of the fellow students-antagonists in Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban and when she cast a potentially very harmful spell on her crush in a jealous
fit in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There was absolutely no need for violence during
either one of these instances, and they are in fact a part of her personality that is problematic,
flawed. But its not that surprising that the audience thats now already used to see violence as
strength would come to the conclusion that these are positive and admirable moments in the
portrayal of this young girl.

A similar thing happened in a more recent media, a TV series that became an overnight
sensation, Stranger Things. They give us Nancy Wheeler, a somewhat flawed yet undeniably
inspiring and satisfying character. Nancy is an average teenager with all the doubts, questions
and explorations that haunt real girls of her own age when those titular strange things descend on
her little town. She rises above it all in the dark times, showing an extreme loyalty and brains,
and yes, also a brave will to fight against something she cant really win against. But whenever I
see Nancy talked about on the Internet, its not about her desperate struggle to find her missing
friend or about her coming up with a brilliant and inspiring theory that ultimately saves the day.
Its about her using a handgun successfully on her first try.
Undoubtedly, at least a part of the blame for this worrisome trend lies in Jess Whedon's
Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. Its one of the most successful, most popular teen series of
all times, the protagonist of which is basically a one man monster-fighting army. There is a lot of
fighting on this show, most of which done by the protagonist, the vampire slayer Buffy. Hoping
to reach the success of this series, a lot of writers have attempted to create a character that is
similarly inspiring. I think their failure comes from thinking that it was the fighting itself that
made Buffy special. The fact is, she was one in a long line of slayers - young girls who inherit
the super monster-fighting powers and die within few years. Buffys success, as the series told us
time and again, didnt come from her fighting skills. It came from her friends and family, her
determination to, since she couldnt have a normal life at least help protect the normality of her
schoolmates and fellow citizens, from the fact that the fighting wasnt a right she had, but a job
she had to do. It wasnt the fighting itself, but the reasons she had to keep going. Unfortunately,
all thats left of her legacy in the media nowadays is the violence.
Teaching and inspiring young girls to fight - to fight bullies, rivals, poverty, inner demons
- thats a good thing. But does the fight always have to be physical? Is there really a need to
refuse and deny every traditionally female characteristic? Were trying to tell them that its okay
to fight back, yet we ended up telling them that in order to be able to do that, they have to imitate
men and take over the traditionally male role. And by doing that, we imply that women, as they
are, as they have been shaped by society and history through countless generations, are weak.
But this is not true. Even bound to the kitchen, as some would disdainfully note, women have
struggled and fought, always. The lack of a pointy weapon to neatly mark the end of the fight
with a stab wound makes their fight more impressive, not less. We need media and role models

who acknowledge that, instead of teach young girls - soon to be women themselves - to
denounce everything traditionally female and instead mimic guys. The only way to achieve true
equality among genders is not to prove women are capable of doing everything men can, its to
make men acknowledge that what women do is just as important, valuable and powerful.

O'Donnell, J. L. (2015). Gender & pop culture: a text-reader. Gender and Education, 1-3.
Rowling, J.K. (2001). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. London: Bloomsbury
Rowling, J.K. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. London: Bloomsbury
Ross, G. (2012). The Hunger Games. United States: Color Force
Schwentke, R. (2014). Divergent. United States: Summit Entertainment
Vaughn, M. (2010). Kick-Ass. United States: Marv Films
Duffer, M. & Duffer, R. (2016). Stranger Things. United States: 21 Laps Entertainment
Whedon, J. (1997 - 2003). Buffy the Vampire Slayer. United States: Mutant Enemy Productions